Thrifty Rent A Car
reviews and complaints

I reserved the car online weeks before arrival. The rate quoted in that transaction was not honored at the rental car location. I needed the car, so I went ahead and paid 20% more than the original quote. I was encouraged to return the car with no gas remaining because "Our gas is much cheaper than anywhere in town." Upon returning the car, the attendant checked the tank, gave me a lenthly printed receipt and escorted me to the waiting shuttle. At the airport, I noticed that the receipt itemized the tank as empty. I had filled the tank just blocks away before turning the car in. I called the rental location to explain and was told I would need to call a toll-free number. That conversation could be summarized as "buyer beware, tough luck."
I stopped payment with VISA and called Thrifty again after returning home. I was treated rudely and accussed of lying. I lost, but I hope you will avoid this disreputable company. I have rented cars for 30 years for business and have now seen it all. I wonder if the attendant gets a bonus for each traveler he deceives.

We are stuck in a hotel waiting for Thrifty to show up with a replacement car because the Calgary manager has told us we will be liable if we drive the car we rented a few days ago! Who knows when they will show up?

We rented a brand-new SUV which broke down in a parking lot on Christmas Day. Thanks to the help of a passerby we managed to get the cafe back to our hotel. Now we are told we can't leave the hotel until they come with a new car. So far, so bad ... we have already waited three hours and are paying for a car we cannot use!

We were planning a holiday to Los Angeles for our family of 5 (we are from New Zealand).

I booked a Grand Jeep Cherokee (or similar) via the Thrifty website for about $59 per day, since we had a lot of luggage and this car could fit 4 suitcases according to their website. I did this 2 months in advance.

After 13 hours of flying, we arrived at LAX and caught the thrifty shuttle with all of our luggage.

However, the vehicle we booked was unavailable, and they said we offered us a Ford Escape for the same price. I was not sure how much luggage it could take, I took a look and the trunk was tiny. It could not fit our luggage.

I asked for a vehicle more like the Grand Cherokee which would fit our luggage.

They said I would have to pay an extra $300 to upgrade to their next model since I was rejecting the ford escape.

I had no choice, with 3 children and partner and all our luggage sitting on the sidewalk in the middle of the airport commerical zone we were at thrifty's mercy.

Now I'm back from holiday, I've done a little research. The Ford escape they offered to me is listed as a smaller vehicle on their website, certainly not an equivalent vehicle to the cherokee.

Also, the ford escape is only $45 per day, and they wanted me to pay the same as for the cherokee.

Basically, thrifty were forcing me to accept a free downgrade .

I am outraged by how we were treated. The staff at Thrifty LAX are incompetent money diggers. The worst way to begin a holiday in the US, encountering modern day pirates.

I've lodged a complaint with thrifty, but they say I will get no refund of the extra $300 we paid since I rejected the Ford Escape. Unbelievable.

Using this logic, thrifty can bait with really cheap offers, wait for the customer to arrive, offer a completely unsuitable car unlike the customer had booked, then force the customer to pay for an upgrade .

They would never get away with such behaviour in New Zealand as we have some of the strongst consumer protection laws in the world.

Is there anyway I can take this further?

Disclaimer: I'm not sure how the person I was traveling with thought an ill-reputed company called "Thrifty" with such a slew of other bad ratings was a good pick, but we made the idiot decision to go with this company instead of Avis, which I personally have used for years with no such problems. I guess given that poor choice this is partially our fault but that's where it ends.

We rented a car for a trip to visit our grandfather after our grandmother passed away. The fiasco started with I guess some kind of extra 30 dollar charge for our returning the car before 8 AM. The person I was traveling with disputed this with them, and I think it was cancelled. However, as soon as we got the car we noticed we had to push it to get it started as it had battery problems. We took pictures of the car before and after return, but they claimed there were three small dents in the windshield. We were extremely careful with the car knowing the country we were in and the business ethics there - we did not dent the windshield. Later they charged us the full 400 dollar deposit for this, and a 50 dollar complaint fee every time we brought up the fraudulent charge. We're in the process of cancelling the card to repeal the charges.

This has been insane. Save your money and go with Avis - these people are crooks - I was really surprised they thrive anywhere in the US. Probably only in [censored]hole cities like LA.

I made my reservation 3 months in advance. When I arrived at the counter they could not find my reservation. I handed the attendent my confirmation (which I had printed out) and he said that he finally found it but that he was going to upgrade me at no additional cost. I asked if it was an American Car as I had requested and he told me that it was a Hyundai Elantra. I again asked for an American Car and he said that they didn't have any. I found the car to be very unconfertable and my foot kept getting stuck under the gas pedel. I picked the car up on a Monday at 9PM and returned it at 6:15AM on Friday with 40 miles on the speedometer and they charged me $318.98. I will never use Thrifty/Dollar car rental again and will go out of my way to retell my experience with Thrifty/Dollar Rental Car.

Do not use thrifty car rental! They engage in deceptive practices that can lead to unwanted substantial add on fees. I rented a vehicle for a week at the sarasota airport location. After telling the clerk repeatedly that I did not want the optional loss damage waiver insurance or the trip saver options, these additional charges were added on to my bill. The screen used for customers to agree and sign off on the bill did not clearly display these additional charges.
After seeing the charges I called their 'client service' number where I was rudely told that I signed a binding agreement and they would not even consider my request for a partial refund and would not even pass my call to a supervisor.

Unbelievable ! Made a reservation direct from Thrifty.com and got a very good rate for a 2 week rental. Got to the airport and Thrifty would not honor the reservation..."rate was too low"! Manager would not give name and would not come out to discuss it face to face. I was told to call corporate if there was a problem! If I wanted a car it would be 10x the rate I was promised. Corporate was no help at all. STAY AWAY FROM THRIFTY

I had made a reservation online and a few days later received an email with a rate much less than the original rate. I showed this to the customer service person at the desk in Orlando and was told that he would talk to the manager. The rep then came back and told me the manager said no. I then asked for the manager and he came out. I then told him about the rate (he seemed that this was the first that he heard about it) and he said " I only push orders here". To top it off, the customer service rep told me, while I was reading the agreements, to" is there a problem, just sign it already". I want to read the agreements before signing them and I found this to be terribly rude. I then called 1-800-thrifty and told them what happened and was told that they can't do anything. I asked to speak to a manager and was hung up on. I called back and asked to speak to a manager again and after 30 min of waiting Miggy then told me sorry there is nothing that can be done. I asked to speak to her manager and was told to call [protected] which I did and Jennifer employee number 59499 just said there's nothing she can do. I then asked to talk to her supervisor and after holding for an additional ½ hour I was transferred back to Miggy 67583 told me “my best case scenario is after I have returned the rental, maybe someone in customer service might do something for me. That is the best Thrifty can do”. I then asked to talk to her manager and was told that her manager Eugne Domingo was not available. Duane Warner was the Manager "Mike" was the rep and Miggy was the customer service supervisor. No one was helpful and due to this experience, I will reconsider ever renting from Thrifty in the future and I will let as many people I know about my experience with your company.

We rented a mini van from thrifty in frankfurt airport, germany May 2011
When we got there, we had our own premium car rental insurance from american express, they rejected it. They said we could only buy insurance from them, otherwise, they won't let us drive out their car.
Leave no choice, we bought the super expensive insurance from them, which was 25 eur a day.
The trip was going smoothly, nothing happened to the car, after we returned it to their parking lot, there is no person around. We dropped the key and went to their rental office. The people there told us just to leave the car there, they will check later and return us the deposit to my credit card which was eur 1100

after we came back to US, I didn't get the deposit back, I tried to contact them, called, left messages, wrote letters. no reply. After a week, finally, I reached them, They said the car was damaged! And they won't return me the deposit!

I was really angry, plus after came back to USA, I did some research, found out that thrifty car rental frankfurk has already scammed a lot of people's deposit. So, I called my credit card company, disputing the charges.

While it was still in disputing, they charged me another $2500. they explained that since there was no policy report, the insurance was voided. And the repair for the damage was 3000 euro. They charged the leftover through my account without any notifications.

I called them, telling them that there was no damage to the car at all during our trip. how come they charged us for the repair. Now it is still in disputing.

On may 13, 2011 I rented a car from thrifty romania and I was charged 729.67 dollars for rental for which I paid with a credit card. At the same time, the person at the thrifty rental office in the otopeni airport, bucharest whose name was claudiu told me that he was going to put an additional hold of 450 euros (About 700 dollars) on my credit card because this was their policy, but that the hold would be released when I returned the car.

I returned the car to thrifty on may 22 in good condition with no scratch or damage, and all seemed all right, but I found out in the beginning of june that thrifty had charged me 684.27 dollars extra because "car was returned with scratched bumper on the side." they had not contacted me about the claimed damage and the charge, and I knew nothing about the whole thing until I did my own search and investigation.

The damage was a lie. The same thing happened to a family friend that rented a car from thrifty romania during the same month, may 2011. They told him the same thing, that he had returned the car with a scratch on the bumper.

These people are crooks! Stay awas from thrifty romania.

Recently we visited Romania for one week and rented a car at Otopeni airport at Thrifty Car Rental Romania/ Auto Rent SRL.

10 days after returning home we discovered that they had charged our credit card the deposit of 320 euro.

We contacted them immediately, to ask why they had done so since we returned the car with NO damage whatsoever. But they just claimed the car was damaged and refused to return our money.

A search on the net found several complaints about this company from other customers that had been cheated like us.

This company is very dishonest. Do not ever rent a car from them!

I have heard so many bad behaviors about company in regards to charging extra amounts to your customers, I have had few incidents my self (but you always have the explanation for the games you play on your clients)

The reason I am writing today is to compliant about the gas (petrol) charges, when I took the car I made sure to tell the person from Thrifty that the tank only had about 60% and not full and he stated to me that he only indeed recorded to his palm the right amount of gas (petrol), yet I put enough petrol to about 60% before returning the car, and I still was charged 88.20 Dirhams more.

If you continue with this behavior believe me you will end up losing more then gaining, please refund the amount charged to my credit card (88.20 AED) immediately or I will make a claim to all authorities local and international (including the mother company in the US) and inform all news agencies and any other media source available to me of your bad behavior.

Thrifty car fails to inform you of all of their fees. We were accessed an additonal driver fee that was not fully disclosed to us until we received our bill. In addition, they made their contract difficult to read, using faded ribbons on their printers. I will never use them again.

rented a car from thrifty at there heathrow site on-line for a 2 wk. period and after me & my daughter waited at the appointed place at heathrow airport no cortisy car arrived. we found our way by public transport to the shereton hotel as this was marked as their office. when we finally found their small counter behing the door of the hotel I gave the the attendant the required documents, drivers lience, credit card & retal contract in duplicate, and after a few min. he gave me back my gredit card saying it was no good because it had to be english. I asked him why someone arriving from australia 1.5 hrs. ago would have a english credit card and that they had already withdrawn $498 from this same card to pay the rental. he just replied it wasn't his problem so I asked if I could pay cash or something else as it was 8 .0 pm and we were still 100 mls. from our prepaid accommadation. he just shrugged his shoulders and said sorry, no car. I then asked him about a refund so I could rent a car from somewhere else where he told me it was up to head office and they were closed, After we grabbed our luggage and left a bus going back to thr airport pulled up in front of us. We paid the driver and as we were about to sit down the man from thrifty came out and asked for a copy of the agreement so he could refund our money. Buget retals hired us a car at 9 pm. at night with the same credit card and the service was teriffic. On arriving back home I found no such refund had been made so after 5 emails with no reply I contacted the car rental association and recieved a email from thrifty 4 days later, but only to point out there no refund terms and conditions. after more emails that they did not reply I have given it up as a bad experience but would not recomend them to my worst enemy. terrence watts.

Made reservations thru Travelocity for a 5 day rental car with Thrifty. Received a quote from Tracelocity for my full week rental. Arrived on time to get my car. When I turned in my vehicle a day early I was given a bill that was $85.00 over the quote. Numerous add on's to the bill such as a "tourist tax" and many others. I also had to "pre-pay" for a full tank of fuel. Something I have NEVER had to do in my life. I have always had to fill the vehicle up upon return. But here I was charged for a full tank regardless of the argument I had with the clerk - I told him I did NOT want the pre paid fuel option but he said it was "manditory". I contacted Travelocity and was told there was nothing I could do since I turned the vehicle in a day early. I told them it was only a $15.00 charge for an early return - where was the other $70.00? No response from Thrifty with a similar complaint. DO NOT USE THRIFTY for your rental car needs. Yes they advertise the lowest price - but thats for base price - after all the "add on's" its anyone''s guess what the final bill will be. Crooks and scamers...

I booked a car rental through carrental.com for $24.99 a day. When picking up the car the saleman asked for a credit card as usual. I presented my Bank of America Mastercard and he said that they have an incredible deal with B of A customers for an upgrade to a premium car for just a few dollars more. I asked how much more and he said $29.99 a day. I agreed and in a hurry did not read the fine print. He charged me $24.99 plus $29.99 a day for the car. I would never have rented this car for an extra $30 a day had I known that was the incredible deal. This is trickery at its finest. I called their customer service after returning the car and the agent was not helpful at all. She said that I signed it so I'm liable for the charges. I will never rent from them again!

I purchased a car rental from Thrifty, in the Cabo San Lucas area, from an on-site representative at a resort I was staying at. My rental started on Thursday and was to be returned on Sunday of the same week, dropping it off at the airport. I purchased the rental at a good price and chose all insurance coverage available.

My credit card was pre-authorized for a little over $600 to be held until the car was returned. Seemed like a standard normal purchase- and then the nightmare began!

I checked out of the resort hotel on Friday and elected to stay at a hotel in downtown Cabo San Lucas for the remainder of my stay. Well, by Saturday afternoon all of my money was gone. Thrifty elected to increase my hold from $600 to $4, 159.34- NOT PESOS, BUT DOLLARS! Can you imagine this happening to you? For most people, holding over $4, 000 of your money would likely ruin your entire trip… you would be wiped out! Well, it is three days later and this money is still being held, and this is only one of two major problems still remaining unresolved.

WHY did Thrifty decide to hold over $4, 000 of my funds from me? Well, I went to the closest Thrifty office and they said they have been “trying to look for me.” First of all, I had NO voice mail OR e-mail from Thrifty, so I don’t know who they were contacting, but it sure wasn’t me. Secondly, I had NO reason at all to report to Thrifty on my whereabouts. I was scheduled to drop off my car on Sunday, at the airport. This was Saturday. So, again, what was this company thinking? Obviously, they thought I possibly stole their car. The nerve! Even after several times of directly asking WHY, no one at Thrifty gave me a direct answer on why my hold was increased.

To make matters even worse, I had somehow lost the car keys on Friday night, between my trip to local shopping and back to the hotel. It is very possible that the keys were locked in the car, but this issue also remains unresolved. When I went to the Thrifty office, first to scream about the additional money they decided to hold without ANY notice, warning, or warrant, I informed them about my lost key.

First, they wanted to get to the car “right away.” The Thrifty supervisor and an intimidating larger male co-worker drove me back to the hotel I was staying at, with a camera, took pictures of the car and then called the “manager.” At this point, I felt like a prisoner and not a customer. I did nothing, but was being investigated. I cannot describe the feelings I had about this situation and this alone will prevent me from ever dealing with this company for the remainder of my lifetime.

THE WORST IS YET TO COME: Finally, even though I purchased all of the insurance available, including insuring personal belongings, I was told that for loosing the keys I will be charged an additional $380.00. You heard me correctly. Not only am I being treated like a criminal, but NOW Thrifty is stealing from me! There is no way that is will cost Thrifty $380 to replace a lost key (and it may not even be lost, but simply locked in the car).

The supervisor told me that the insurance does not pay for “negligence.” Are you serious? Did she just call me negligent? Wow…. And, where in any fine print does it say that you should be responsible for anything after you spend the extra money to purchase all of the insurance. Isn’t that what insurance is for?

Again, I am back home and none of this has been resolved. Everything I have told you here is a fact. This is the 2nd time I have made the decision to use Thrifty in a Latin American country and it is the 2nd time that something “very shady” has occurred, where I end up feeling robbed rather than helped at a time of need.

I sent two e-mails to the CEO, the Senior Vice President of Operations in Latin America, and the VP of Global Sales and Marketing for the parent company of Thrifty Rental Car, who also owns Dollar Rental Car. No resolution from them; not even a reply back. I guess they care more about my $600 than how I was treated.

I encourage you to take this information into consideration when comparing Thrifty to other car rental companies. I can tell you, for me, I will always choose to pay the extra $10 per day, or to walk the extra few blocks, to work with a brand name that I can trust… not Thrifty Rental Car.

Charged for replacement of defective tire. During the rental of the Ford Explorer, the vehicle had a flat tire while sitting in a parking lot. Thrifty was contacted but they took no responsibility in the issue nor did they show any interest or display any apology what so ever. We changed the tire ourselves and put on the spare donut tire since we were returning the vehicle the next day. When settling the bill, they informed us since we did not take out the insurance policy, we would be charged the replacement of the tire. Keep in mind, we only drove this vehicle only a 100 miles during the rental period and at no time did we cause any damage to the tire. We my wife turned in the keys, we were charged $129 plus taxes to replace the entire tire. They told us it may be reduced after they check the tire out but of course, they charged the full tire price. We got ripped off! After long arguments and making contact with customer service reps, there was no help or support at all. It seems to be their normal practise to rip off the customers. Please do not use Thrifty Car Rental from Hilton Head Airport.
Signed R. and P. Ahlers Rental agreement # HHH38814 Agent in duty: James W. 2/10/2011 return

I booked a car rental for a Honda Accord or similar for collection on 2 April at the Durban Airport branch. I made the booking via the company's website well in advance on the 26 March and was given a booking reference number. A day before flying to Durban, I contacted the call centre to confirm my booking and everything was in order for my arrival. On arrival at the Durban branch I was informed that they did not have my Honda available or anything similar. They offered me a Nissan Livina for the Friday and promised that they will deliver my Honda or a similar vechile the following morning. I accepted these terms, gave them my address where I was staying and left with the Nissan Livina. The following morning I contacted the Durban office and they said that they were still waiting for my vechile and that they will contact me as soon as possible. I advised them that I needed my car because I had an appointment at a function later that day. To cut a long story short, they never came back to me and I never received my car. I demanded a full refund as I did not receive the Honda or similar. Instead they made me pay for the Nissan Livina which is not similar to a Honda Accord.